Philip Seymour Hoffman: The Curse Of Addiction

The world was stunned that Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his home at 46 years of age with a needle in his arm. To say Hoffman was a talented actor is an understatement. He was a brilliant, commanding performer.

For his leading role in Capote (2005), he won the Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA Award and Critics Choice Award. He was nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe for The Master (2012), Doubt (2008), and Charlie Wilson's War (2007). He also received three Tony Award nominations.

There were a plethora of other awards and nominations—too many to mention here. He was not only an actor, but a producer and director, as well. But despite all the successes and titles Hoffman earned from the stage and in front of or behind the camera, he held another title, too. Addict.

Hoffman was found dead in his apartment, apparently from a heroin overdose, though as of February 5, New York City's chief medical examiner says the cause of death is still pending. Hoffman's body was found amidst syringes, cocaine, prescription pill bottles and 50 small bags of heroin.

Hoffman had gone public about his past drug addiction. In 2006 he told 60 Minutes that when he was 22 he "got panicked for my life", and gave up the drugs and alcohol. He was clean for 23 years. Twenty-three years. And then two years ago, he relapsed.

In 2004, there were 1,879 heroin deaths, while in 2010 this spiked to 3,038. Across the US, there are approximately 600,000 heroin addicts, each spending from $100 to $200 daily to support their addiction.

But it's not just heroin. Once an addict, always an addict. Regardless of your sex, race or creed, if you're an addict, you're an addict—for life. Addiction is a brain disease. If you go through rehab, you're not cured. You're clean. But you're not cured. Here are the four C's of addiction:

1) Loss of CONTROL over use: The inability to have “just one”.

2) Continued use despite harmful CONSEQUENCES: You know your life is spiraling out of control, but keep using anyway.

3) COMPULSION to use: It's all you can think about, nothing else is important.

4) CRAVING: The drive to get high or stoned or drunk is overwhelming and you are either high or in withdrawal, craving another hit, drink, shot, toke.

Hoffman was clean for 23 years and was unbelievably successful. In 2012 he began taking prescription pain pills. And he relapsed. He wasn't being selfish. He wasn't being stupid. He didn't think he was invincible. He was an addict, and he relapsed and died alone in his apartment.

Despite all the advances in treatment, increased understanding of brain chemistry, realization that addiction causes changes in neural pathways and various new meds that suppress cravings, this simple fact remains true: “Once an addict always an addict”. And if you’re an addict you can never have “just one”.

You believe Philip Seymour Hoffman because you want to believe Philip Seymour Hoffman. He wasn't clean for 23 years, not by a long shot. Look at the skin and the face. That's a 46 year old man going on 80. He never was clean.

The only difference between 10 years ago and now is that now he was doing way more drugs than he was before. Silly white people, they'll believe in the tooth fairy if it made them feel all good and cozy.

I don't believe in abstinence. We wouldn't tell an obese person they could never have a cheeseburger again. Nor would we tell a compulsive cheater that he could never have sex again. Yet somehow people still think its normal to tell an alcoholic or an addict that they can never drink or do drugs again and if they do they have fallen from grace. This form of thinking is what make dieters binge eat when they mess up. The same is true for other addictions. If you are going to fail you might as well enjoy it and get the most out of it before you go back to being "clean" again.

"When you choose the behavior, you choose the consequences." And the vast range of possible potential consequences, including those that are unknown. If you truly fear those potential consequences, you choose to commit yourself to an environment where choice of the drug is beyond your control. You save your own life. For as long as it takes.

Certainly Hoffman had the resources to make that choice. It was his family's choice. His death is proof that he chose the drug. Not once, but innumerable times. Consequence? Death. And fatherless children.

"Curse of addiction"? As long as our mental health care providers ignore the disease model of addiction in favor of sensationalized constructs of the disease, addicts will continue to be misunderstood and face obstacles to receiving appropriate evidence-based medical treatment. You call addiction a "brain disease" in the text of the article, but your headline contradicts that idea and is misleading. Please avoid using catchy phrases and inaccurate attention-grabbing headlines and as it is a disservice to those who suffer from addiction and those who are seeking to understand the disease.

The disease model of addiction, "once an addict, always an addict" is seriously outdated and inaccurate. I would suggest Dr. Archer update his knowledge of neurophysiology, trauma, attachment and addictions. The books "In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction" by physician Gabor Maté, MD and "In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness" by Peter Levine, PhD, are excellent treatises covering the research and the neurobiology on the topic.